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That spring, while most countries were deeply mired in recession, Canadian market-watchers were pointing to “green roots.” By summer, employers were hiring. On July 23, Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney declared the downturn officially over.

Strangely, none of the unions, social agencies, or the unemployed had any idea what all the new jobs were or who was getting them.

Now we know the answer.

Francis Fong, an economist at the Toronto-Dominion bank, has just released a report showing that older Canadians “stampeded” into the job market in the early months of the recovery. They continue to be the “dominant age cohort” in employment growth, he says.

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He traced employment trends back to July 2009. Since then, Canadians over 60 have accounted for 30 per cent of the country’s job gains. (To put that in perspective, they make up just 8 per cent of the labour force.) A surprising 1 per cent of the newly employed workers have been over the age of 70.

“Older Canadians are blazing trails on many fronts,” Fong said. “They are living longer, working longer — and they are increasingly taking on debt.”

While some baby boomers cheered his findings, others who took a close look realized the news was not entirely good.

• Most of the employment gains were in the low-paying retail sector.

• The majority of the jobs were “non-standard” (part-time, temporary and self-employment). These lower-intensity work arrangements can help people ease into retirement. But they often signal that older Canadians can’t afford to stop working. They have no pensions, no savings and have debts to pay.

• The surge in employment among older workers came at the expense of debt-saddled graduates, forcing them to delay their careers and move back into their parents’ homes. The youth unemployment rate in Canada now stands at 14.5 per cent (almost double the national average).

Fong doesn’t expect this trend to taper off any time soon. With health among older Canadians improving, their debt levels rising, their nest-eggs shrinking and no mandatory retirement laws forcing them to quit, he foresees that leaving the workforce at 65 will become a luxury available only to the well-off and the extremely prudent.

His paper was written before Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that his government intends to rein in spending on Old Age Security, the most secure and predictable government source of retirement income. No doubt that will increase the incentive to work as long as possible.

In the short term, delayed retirements may help to ease the labour shortages demographers have long predicted when baby boomers start turning 65.

In the longer run, however, governments, businesses and educators will have no choice but to capitalize on the talents of the nation’s young people. The nation’s productivity, competitiveness and economic growth depend on them.

There is no sign that any level of government is prepared — or preparing — to face these challenges. Ottawa and the provinces are so consumed with deficit-cutting right now that they can’t see beyond their balance sheets.

Nor is there much evidence that employers are making room for tech-savvy young workers who will bring in new ideas, new ways of doing things and new energy.

Educators are doing what they can to teach students to be more entrepreneurial. But starting a new business is a high-risk strategy. Most fail within three years. Even those that succeed seldom produce a stable livelihood.

Everyone will pay for this short-sightedness. Canada will lose its competitive edge. Future generations will lose the standard of living their parents achieved.

And baby boomers, now celebrating the ascendancy of grey power, will lose the chance to see their children and grandchildren shine.

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